Warranty on Slow/Freezing/Spinning Mac Mini 1.4ghz?

[tekfranz]

I am running out of warranty on my 2014 1.4 ghz Mac Mini.
It is very slow and I have reformatted it multiple times and been through several iterations with Apple Support.
The main issue is that if I have more than 1 or 2 apps opening the spinning swirly wheel start as and it can take several minutes to become responsive again.
I don't want to waste time going into the store (especially with how full they are these days) so here are my questions:

1.) What test does the Apple Store do to check Machine Health? The Mini comes out fine when running Command D.
2.) Has anyone else had success getting a machine replaced for slowness?
3.) If I would disable iCloud and all Third-Party Apps would I see an improvement?
4.) Would multiple User Accounts slow it down?
5.) Is it reasonable to expect to be able to have to have 2-3 apps open without it freezing up for awhile?
6.) Is there a way to ask Apple to send me a refurbished replacement or something?

 

[Fishrrman]

Questions:
- What kind of drive inside? Platter-based hard drive, or SSD?
- How much RAM?

Realities:
- You can't add more RAM. What you have is "all there is". If it's only 4gb, too many apps will "fill up" the RAM and force the OS to go to virtual memory.
- If it's a platter-based drive (which is only 5400rpm in the Mini), things are slow to begin with. With lots of VM "page ins" and "page outs", things will get VERY slow.

What you can do:
- Buy an external USB3 SSD (250gb size will do fine).
- Put a copy of the OS on it, along with your applications and account(s)
- Leave "large libraries" (such as movies) on the internal drive (they don't "need speed")

Set it up this way, and I predict that your speed problems will be solved.

 

[Boyd01]

I agree with @Fishrrman although I would get a 500gb SSD unless the price is really a problem for you. Use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your internal hard drive to the USB SSD, then switch it to the startup disk in System Preferences. That way you won't have to worry about moving files or installing operating systems, your Mini will be exactly the same but it will boot from the external drive.

After you set that up, you can use the internal hard drive for backup. You could either do this with Time Machine or Carbon copy. If you use Carbon Copy, you would be able to boot from the internal hard drive if you have a problem with the SSD. Time machine can't do that kind of backup, but it has the advantage of always running so your system is constantly being backed up.

 

[Brian Y]

Run SMART utility to check if the drive is failing. If it is I'm sure they'd replace it.

If the drive is fine, realistically it'll just be down to being an older, slow machine. It has a dual core, ULV CPU, 4GB of RAM and a slow spinning disk. Only thing you can really do, as above, is install an SSD.

 

[tekfranz]

Thanks for the replies. Wow using the USB for the Main Drive sounds a bit backwards but it might work.

Anyone think Apple would help me out or will they say everything is fine, live with it?

And for the record I won’t be buying a low end Mac Mini again.

Do MacBook Airs also have this issue on their low end models?

 

[Boyd01]

The "low end" MacBook Air has 8gb RAM (twice what you have) and also has a SSD (a really fast one). No comparison...

A USB SSD is going to be 4 to 5 times faster than the internal POS hard drive on the base Mini. I have several Samsung T3 SSD's and this is what I get. Your internal drive will only clock at 80 to 100MB/sec.

Aside from that, no idea whether Apple will "help" you or even if they could. Sorry, but from what you said it's not really clear that anything is wrong with your Mini. I have the same model and only use it as an iTunes server. It's just fine for that. But if I try to do anything else, it's an exercise in frustration. The 2012 base Mini was not nearly this bad, and you could also easily upgrade the RAM yourself but just popping the bottom off and plugging it in.

Most likely you are just pushing it too hard. If it's "swapping" (as Fishrman described) there's only so much you can do. An SSD will definitely speed that up, but only to a point. It can't hurt to disable iCloud and third party software, that should be easy enough and you can see if it's faster. Same thing with multiple user accounts (although I don't know why that would matter unless another person is actually logged in to your Mini and using it simultaneously).

 

[varghese.libin1]

Most probably a sensor in your mac has stoped working